Fern advice needed

Hello all, This 'fern' type plant, I called it maidenhair don't think it is though, is in trouble although it does seem to be shooting it has been like this for some time. It all started when it dried out so I watered it and I tried it on some new JI compost. Once it was massive and graced the corner of my North facing porch. It seems to get a far as it is now and when about to form 'leaves' it dies back and a few more fronds sprout up. Like many of my plants it has a history. Any advice would be welcome.

 

Lift it out the pot, knock the soil off, divide in two halves and repot one half as it is with a bit of fresh sterile ericacious compost and the other half go the whole hog and wash the roots thoroughly in plain water before repotting.

Could be you have a beastie in your compost like vine wevil. If you do see any you can also give the repotted ferns a dose of systemic killer which will protect them while they recover.

 

Agree about the repotting. It could well be that despite watering, the compoast will not rehydrate. Some composts once dry NEVER seem to soak up water again. It could be that your plant is still not getting enough to drink!

 

I will do that tomorrow. When I lifted it out of the compost the roots did look poor, then I just put some new compost, not the type you recommend, under it to see what would happen. Tomorrow I will split it and do exactly as suggested. Thanks both.

 

Some do do better if divided and repotted, the new fronds appearing are a good sign, I take it you are sure its not a deciduous type? overwatering in winter could be the cause also many ferns although hardy do suffer in cold winter weather then pick up again in spring

 

To be honest SteveW, I don't know what it is I tried googling. I call it a 'fern' but it's nothing like a fern leaf more like lots of little round shaped 'leaves'. Its very odd I've seen it so many times and I cant remember ever looking at it closely. I have seen this type many times usually with older householders. It forms a canopy of soft light green foilage.

 

The plant in the picture is definitely a fern. Maidenhair fern leaves come in many different shapes.

 

I got some lime free compost today, cut the plant in half, washed it, no creepies present, but very little live material. Potted all of it in case of miracles, but to be honest if it was a person we would be all sitting around the bed with the minister present.